Hyderabad: HC building, with rich legal legacy, to hit century

HYDERABAD: The majestic building that has been housing the high court in Hyderabad for the last 100 years is gearing up to celebrate its centenary on April 20.

Established as high court for Hyderabad State on April 20, 1920, the building is witness to many glorious and tumultuous phases of history and adapted itself to several changes.

In the past, it has functioned as a composite high court for the combined state of Andhra Pradesh, and then as a common high court for the states of Telangana and AP.



A bench of the Supreme Court too functioned here during the early 1950s after the 1948 annexure of Hyderabad State in Indian Union, mainly to resolve cases by taking the help of Urdu language experts here because the court, during the Nizam’s rule, functioned with Urdu as its principal medium. The VII Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, had inaugurated the building built on a sprawling 9-acre land. 3

The construction commenced on April 15, 1915 and was completed by March 31, 1919 at a cost of Rs 18.22 lakh. The building was built on the ruins of Hine Mahal and Nadi Mahal, the two Qutb Shahi palaces. The HC at Hyderabad made valuable contributions to the legal history through its landmark judgements, and several of its judges went to become judges of the SC. In fact, three of them, Justice N V Ramana, Justice Lavu Nageswara Rao and Justice R Subhash Reddy will grace the centenary celebrations as distinguished guests.